Joy is Amy Williams' middle name. No really, it is. Right now it couldn't be more appropriate.

As she settles back into West Country life, the Bath athlete still has a smile beaming from ear to ear as she proudly holds the Olympic gold medal she brought back from Vancouver.

The day after being welcomed back to her home city with cheering crowds and an open-topped bus tour, yesterday the 27-year-old was enjoying being back with fellow athletes at the Team Bath headquarters at the University of Bath's Claverton Down campus.

Amy's boyfriend Petr Narovec, a 32-year-old member of the Slovakian four-man bobsleigh team, was nowhere in sight though – and Amy's distinctive long eye lashes were fluttering for the other man in her life – Arthur.

Arthur, I should hasten to add, is her trusty sled.

Amy has been getting extremely close to the 33 kilos of steel sled in recent weeks.

Given the 90mph descents on the Whistler track – the fastest in the world – you can't blame her for clinging on tight. The tragic death of fellow athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili on the Whistler descent just a few weeks ago is testament to the dangers inherent in the sport.

But Arthur was quite unlike any other sled taking part in the games, and Amy says its design, using technology developed by BAE Systems in Bristol, played a big part in her victory.

"I simply wouldn't have got the gold medal if it hadn't been for the three years of development work that the engineers undertook at BAE Systems," she says modestly. "This gold medal really is for everyone that worked on the science behind the sled – it's not just for me."

The story began three years ago, when Dr Scott Drawer, head of research and innovation for UK Sport, and Andreas Schmid, performance director for the British Skeleton Bob Team, realised they needed to develop a new type of sled that was fit for the 21st century.

"Some of the other national teams had been working on developing new sled technology for 10 years," Scott explains.

"Originally, we thought we would try to design a new sled using the latest technology for the 2014 games, but when we saw the advances other countries were making, we realised we needed to have the sled ready for 2010.

"That gave us just three years, working in conjunction with the design team based at the University of Southampton. We knew that was too much to attempt without help, so we decided to tap in to the expertise that we had around us.

"The engineers at BAE Systems may be more used to designing fighter jets, but the principles are much the same.

"The team spent months down at the wind tunnels at the University of Southampton and in the engineering workshops at BAE Systems in Bristol building the sled."

But it was the £5,000 sled itself that was best able to revolutionise Amy's chances of medal success.

James Baker, director of technology and engineering services at BAE Systems, says: "You have to remember that 85 per cent of it is down to the athlete, but we were delighted to be able to make a sled that would allow her to perform to her full potential."

Amy's sled is just part of a five-year partnership between BAE Systems and UK Sport, which will provide £1.5m worth of engineering time and resources to British sports – including cycling, shooting, sailing, wheelchair racing and taekwondo.

Amy, who is now preparing to turn her sights to the next Winter Olympics in 2014, says: "It gives you such confidence going to a major competition knowing that your equipment is world class."